Owl Medicine

The Barn Owl is a rare sight here in Minnesota.

Barn Owl Manitou

On the very first night of my moving to Minnesota years ago, I dreamed of two owls and a skunk representing people. I didn’t know at the time that owls were the skunk’s only natural enemy.  Dead owls were popping up everywhere those first few weeks and I had more owl feathers than I knew what to do with. What does any of this mean? I don’t know.

In some native circles, owls have a reputation of being ‘Bad Medicine’. I’ve had children make a wide berth around our booth at the Hinkley Pow Wow years ago, crying, “OWL, OWL!”  This reputation I think stems mostly from the Lakota belief of the Owl being a harbinger of death. Certain Medicine Men who had gone over to the ‘dark side’, and wished to put a curse on someone, would throw Owl Medicine (usually a dead owl!)  into the tepee of the luckless recipient. If this happened to you, you could consider yourself knackered unless you could find an equally powerful shaman to remove the curse.

In Ojibway circles, however, owls are thought to be totems of ‘Nurturing’ as they are very doting parents. They are also associated with Secrecy and Magic.

As for dark and secretive owl magic, you’ll find this next bit unbelievable…reality stranger than fiction  The ruling elite of the world, including US presidents, take part in a pagan ceremony every July in a place called Bohemian Grove. There they dress in long red robes and sacrifice a child effigy to a 40 foot statue of an owl, in a ritual called “The Cremation of Care.”  Don’t believe it?  Look into it yourself…or not. It affects everything in your life, like your mortgage, for instance.  And wouldn’t you know…there’s a tiny owl hidden right there on that dollar bill in your front pocket.

Black Magic

Here is a satellite image of the U.S. Capital. Interesting, eh?